This invention relates to a device for locating a guide rail for a slidable vehicle roof panel.
A slidable roof panel has been provided on a vehicle for closing and opening an opening formed in its fixed roof. Such a slidable roof panel can be slid along a pair of rails provided on opposite sides of the opening of the vehicle roof to extend in the longitudinal direction thereof thereby closing and opening the opening. A slidable panel of this kind is contained in a space provided within the roof when it is desired to open the opening of the vehicle roof, and said space is defined by the fixed roof and an inner panel secured thereto to have a volume sufficient to locate the pair of rails and permit the slidable movements of the roof panel into and out of the space.
Hitherto, it has been proposed that a pair of longitudinally extending and laterally spaced bars is provided on the rear end of each of the rails and the bars are inserted into mating holes formed in the inner panel to locate the rails within the roof. Such insertion of the bars into the holes is achieved by inserting the rail through the opening of the roof into the space and trying to allow the bars to be brought into registration with the respective holes depending upon the operator's intuition, because the holes can not be perceived by the operator's eye. Therefore, such operation is extremely inefficient and requires a relatively long working time.